Nor were the odds to be overlooked. Galloway was still too far away to
be stopped by a rifle-ball, and Norton, heading him off, would expose
himself not only to Galloway's fire but to that of the men who were
moving to a lower slope to meet their leader. And yet, with fate in
the balance, here was no time for hesitation.
Now Galloway had seen him, had recognized him, perhaps, the thought
coming naturally to him that it would be Roderick Norton who rode to
cut him off. He shifted his rifle so that his right hand was on the
grip, the barrel caught in his left; he had dropped his horse's reins.
Norton was slipping a fresh clip into his gun, his own reins now upon
his horse's neck. And now both men knew that unless a bullet stopped
him Norton would cut across Galloway's path before he could come to his
men.
"At him, Roddy, old boy! We're coming!"
Norton glanced over his shoulder and pressed on. Brocky had missed
him, had seen, had called back a half dozen of his men and was
following. Well, if he dropped, maybe Brocky and the others could get
Jim Galloway. It really began to look as though Galloway had played
out his string.
They were firing from the mountainside now, the bullets thus far flying
wild of their rushing target. Norton shook his head and urged his
horse to fresh endeavor. In a moment he would be fairly between
Galloway and Galloway's last chance. His eye picked out the spot where
he would dismount at that moment, a tumble of big boulders. He would
swing down so that they would be between him and the mountain, so that
nothing but moonlit open space lay between him and Jim Galloway.
While rifles cracked and spat fire and sprayed lead over him and about
him he rode the last fifty yards. He reached the boulders, set his
horse up, threw himself from the saddle, and with his back to the rock,
his face toward Galloway, he lifted his rifle. Galloway, almost at the
same instant, jerked in his own horse. He was so close that Norton
caught his cry of rage.
"Hands up, Galloway!" cried the sheriff. "Hands up or I'll drop you."
But at last Galloway had come out into the open; at last there was no
subterfuge to stand forth at his need; at last, gambler that he was, he
accepted the even break of man to man. As Norton's voice rang out
Galloway fired.
He shot twice before Norton pulled the trigger. Norton shot but the
once. Galloway dropped his rifle, sat rigid a moment, toppled from the
saddle. And his men, seeing him go down, cried out to one another and
drew back into the mountain canons.
"Funny thing," said Brocky Lane afterward. "Had the picture of a kid
of a girl in his pocket! Must have carted it around for a year. Old
Roddy's bullet tore right square through it."
It was a picture of Florrie Engle, taken years before. As Brocky said:
"Just a kid of a girl." Where he got it nobody knew. But then there
were other things about Jim Galloway which no one knew. Perhaps . . .
Quien sabe!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account